Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Stan Gordon on The Kecksburg UFO Incident

http://www.stangordon.info/wp/kecksburg/

By Stan Gordon

On December 9, 1965 an event occurred about 40 miles from Pittsburgh
in a rural area of western Pennsylvania, that even now remains
controversial for some, and mysterious to others.

At the time many people saw a brilliant object moving across the sky.
The news media focused on a young boy, who while playing outside, said
he saw an object fall from the sky into some nearby woods.

During my years of investigation into the matter, other witnesses who
saw the object go down into the woods that day have been located. It
has been stated that moments after the object fell, blue smoke rose up
among the trees, but dissipated quickly. Many people say that the
military, including members of the Army and Air Force, began to arrive
in the area around the village of Kecksburg within a few hours after the
reported landing. During the evening, reporters from numerous media
sources went to Kecksburg to investigate the event. The area around the
alleged impact site was cordoned off, and a search for the object was
conducted in the woods. Neither civilians nor reporters were able to get
near the spot where the object had reportedly fallen. Hundreds of
spectators looked on from a narrow country road which circled around the
area, unaware that the object appears to have fallen on the opposite
side of the woods.

As time passed that evening, many people left disappointed that they
couldn’t see the object. A few curious folks tried to sneak down into
the woods, and later told me that they were tuned back by the military.
Late that night, others say they observed a military flatbed
tractor-trailer truck, carrying a large tarpaulin covered object,
leaving the area at a high rate of speed. Reporters are among the many
witnesses who verify that they saw military personnel in the Kecksburg
area that night. The front page of the Greensburg, PA Tribune-Review
county edition dated December 10, 1965, ran the headlines “Unidentified
Flying Object Falls Near Kecksburg” and “Army Ropes Off Area.” The city
edition of the same paper however, on the same day ran the headline
“Searchers Fail To Find Object.”

Officially, no object was found in the
woods by searchers. It was suggested that the most likely explanation
was that the brilliant object in the sky was a meteor. But word that
something was removed from the site by the military that night, quickly
circulated around the county. The Kecksburg incident remained a topic
for area radio talk shows for years as it does today. As the years
passed, I would receive various accounts from sources who claimed
knowledge of the event. Many of those involved with the incident even
today, wish to remain anonymous. Others have gone public and stand by
their accounts. Some have faced personal attacks and ridicule. Many
important witnesses have passed away.

Reproduced with permissionof the artist, DavidSankey

What we now know is that there are individuals who say that they went
down into the woods that December day in 1965, before the military
arrived, and came across upon a large metallic acorn shaped object
partially buried in the ground. The device was large enough for a man to
stand inside of it. The object was a bronze-gold color, and appeared to
be one solid piece of metal, displaying no rivets or seams. At the back
of the acorn shape was what witness Jim Romansky calls the bumper area.

Upon this area were unusual markings that Romansky says looked
similar to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Romansky who has been a
machinist for many years, says the object itself, looked as though it
had been made from liquid metal and poured into a big mold. Since the
object was impacted in the ground, the bottom portion was not visible,
but what could be seen appeared well intact. The late John Murphy, was
the new director of WHJB radio in Greensburg at the time, and is
believed to have been the first reporter on the scene. His former wife
says that she was in radio contact with him from the site that day, and
that he told her that he went down into the woods and saw the object.
Various informants have approached me with information. Some of these
were people who had military or government affiliation and wish not to
be identified at this time. Some information is expected to be revealed
in the future, when these sources feel that they are safe to disclose
what they know.

I have also received anonymous tips that pointed me in the right
direction which helped to uncover other details. Before Unsolved
Mysteries broadcast their story about Kecksburg in 1990, 1 was contacted
by a former Air Force security policeman who told me that he was among
the unit that guarded the object from PA, when it arrived in the early
morning hours of December 10, 1965 at Lockbourne Air Force near
Columbus, Ohio. He remembers extreme security measures at the time, and
says that the object was only a the base for a short time, and then
continued on to Wright-Patterson Air Force base near Dayton, Ohio.

We later learned that the object was allegedly sealed up inside a
building at that base. After years of searching for government documents
relating to this event, the only official record located was in the Air
Force Project Blue Book files. Included in the report it was stated “A
further call was made to the Oakdale Radar site in Pennsylvania. A three
man team has been dispatched to Acme [Some residents not far from the
site have an Acme mailing address] to investigate and pick up an object
that started a fire.” While the report shows a lot of interest from
various agencies concerning the aerial object, the report also indicates
that the search found nothing. I have learned a lot about the Kecksburg
case over the years, yet there remain many unanswered questions. I
surely don’t have all of the answers.

Based on the accounts of multitudes of eyewitnesses which I have
interviewed, I am convinced that an object did fall from the sky and
apparently was removed by the military. Other witnesses say they saw
NASA personnel at the scene that night also involved in the search. Many
have asked me what I believe that the object was, and my reply still is
“I don’t know.”

As I have stated in the past, the two most likely
possibilities are (1) a highly advanced man-made space probe with some
reentry control capability (2) an extraterrestrial spacecraft. It has
been confirmed that a faulty Soviet Venus probe identified as Kosmos 96,
reentered in Canada on the same date, but at about 3:18 A.M. The
sightings around Kecksburg occurred at about 4:47 P.M. many hours later.
The Russian’s have told me that Kosmos 96 was not the source of what
fell that day.

Other researchers have provided me with interesting but unverifiable
information, that they have talked with former NASA sources who claimed
to have examined the object which fell in PA, and determined it to be
Soviet in origin. I have also talked with two former military men who
are unknown to each other, that told me that during different years, and
at different installations, they saw the recovery report on the
Kecksburg object, and both said the report indicated that the object was
extraterrestrial.

From what the observers tell us, the object whatever
it was, appeared to be slowing down a few miles before it impacted.
During it’s flight, it appears to have made some turns, and those who
saw the object drop from the sky, say it was moving quite slowly as it
moved towards the woods. This might account for the good condition of
the object itself, and the little damage at the impact site, except for
trees which were reportedly knocked down.

One question we must ask is
what was it that fell which was so important that it caused the military
to act the way they did at the scene? Various witnesses have now gone
public confirming that armed soldiers were around the village, and were
preventing anyone from trespassing near the crash site.

Jerry Betters, a
popular jazz musician from Pittsburgh, has gone public and told his
story that soldiers aimed rifles at him and his friends, ordering them
from a back road, as an Army flat bed tractor-trailer with an
acorn-shaped object on board, was making it’s way up from a field.

More
recently, a prominent businessman contacted me and told me how he and
his friends, then teenagers in 1965, tried to get near the site and were
stopped my military personnel. He was frightened at the time of the
experience, he thought the soldier was going to shoot him.

Would armed
soldiers respond to the scene of a meteorite crash? Who issued the
orders for such an operation to take place?

Some of you are aware that I released a 92 minute video documentary
on the incident called “Kecksburg The Untold Story” which I produced at
my own expense.

Many key witnesses are getting up in years, and some are
not in good health. This was an opportunity for those involved to tell
their own experiences about what occurred. For the first time some new
and startling information is revealed about what allegedly occurred.
Some of these people reveal details which strongly suggests a coverup.
Also included in the video, are audio excerpts from the original 1965
WHJB radio broadcast “Object In The Woods.” One man details his claim of
seeing a partially covered body inside a building at Wright-Patterson,
at the same time the Kecksburg object was being examined.

Full-size mockup at Kecksburg, PA

This case is much to involved to cover here in detail. One good
source of information on the case can be found in Kevin Randle’s book “A
History of UFO Crashes.” The Kecksburg mystery remains.

Was the object a
man made space device or did we receive a visitor from outside of our
world?

Recently while visiting an area business, a worker recognized me
and asked about the Kecksburg case. He told me that he has had an
interest in the incident for years since he had a relative who worked at
the pentagon at the time, and this relative had made a special trip to
this area to investigate that matter. When this person asked his
relative about what had happened, he refused to give any details, but
his words were remembered “There was more to it then you’ll ever know.” I
have no doubt that there are other individuals who have important
information on this case. It’s time that the truth is revealed,
regardless of what the source of the object was.

It’s been 47 years,
it’s time to break the silence. If you have any information and would
like to talk with me confidentially, contact me by email or mail and we
can make arrangements to communicate.

Do You Have the Kecksburg UFO Photos?This article was originally published in the 2013 Kecksburg
“Old Fashion &UFO Festival “ booklet , July 26-28, 2013. This
article is reproduced with the permission of Ron Struble of the
Kecksburg V.F.D.See the Kecksburg website @ www.kecksburgvfd.com.

The Kecksburg UFO incident-48 Years Later-Do you have the photos?Some of you reading this article remember that day nearly 48 years
ago, when Kecksburg was put on the map. It was December 9, 1965, when a
mysterious object fell from the sky into a wooded ravine not far from
the fire station. Many of you have relatives, neighbors, and friends who
were witnesses to what occurred that day so many years ago. Something
fell from the sky and whatever that object was, it was apparently
important to the military. They hauled it out of the area during the
early morning hours of December 10, 1965, and took it to an Air Force
base in Ohio.

Officially nothing was ever found or recovered, and only three Air
Force personnel were listed as being on the scene that night. Many of
you reading this know what you saw and experienced that evening. Someone
out there has the evidence that could help close this case once and for
all. It could be one of you reading this story. I have talked to
various people over the years who told me they either saw or know of
others who looked at black and white photographs taken that day in 1965.
The pictures reportedly show the large metallic acorn shaped object
lying in the woods, or photos of military trucks and soldiers who
arrived on the scene around Kecksburg that evening. These photos could
help solve the mystery of what took place so many years ago.

While today there is great interest and support concerning this local
unsolved mystery, many people involved suffered much ridicule, and many
went to their graves hoping there would be closure on this
controversial event. Kecksburg is known throughout the world and has
found its place in the history books. The citizens of Kecksburg, and the
United States deserve to know the truth about what really happened in
1965. This is a part of the local Mount Pleasant Township history, and
if you can help close this chapter, it’s time to come forward with the
photographs or any other evidence or information.

I am looking for anyone who was at Kecksburg in 1965, who I have not
spoken with. I would like to speak with any military personnel who were
involved in the operation to recover or secure the object or those who
have indirect knowledge of the case. I am also searching for a copy of a
newspaper story concerning this case which I saw displayed in the glass
case in the Kecksburg social hall during the 40th
anniversary event. That news story was from one of the local community
newspapers and showed I believe 3 military personnel who were involved
with the search. The news story would have been published within a
couple weeks of the December,1965 incident. If you have this news story
please contact me.You can contact Ron Struble at the Kecksburg V.F.D. or me confidentially. I can be reached at 724-838-7768 or via e-mail at: paufo@comcast.net. Check out my website at: www.stangordon.info.